Tottenham probe into alleged racist abuse against Rudiger ‘inconclusive’ as club scours footage and deploys lip readers

Tottenham Hotspur say their investigation into alleged racist abuse against Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has so far been “inconclusive” – but vowed to continue to work “exhaustively” on the case.

Rudiger signaled that he had been targeted by monkey chants from home fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during Chelsea’s 2-0 win on Sunday.

That prompted a Premier League first as a stadium announcement was made warning fans that racist abuse would not be tolerated, as part of protocols implemented to attempt to tackle abuse.

Spurs vowed to investigate the issue – but on Monday issued an update stating that so far their findings had proved “inconclusive.”

“During yesterday’s match against Chelsea, Antonio Rudiger reported hearing alleged racist abuse from an individual(s) in the South Stand,” the statement read.

“We are able to track every fan via the cameras and have spent many hours reviewing CCTV footage. We have engaged lip readers to study the footage and contacted Chelsea for further information from their players. We have also taken statements from other parties present at the time. The police will be reviewing our evidence alongside us. Please be assured we shall be exhaustively investigating this matter,” it added.

“This Club has a proud track record of anti-racism work across all our communities and we are determined to ensure that we conduct a thorough investigation. Any fan found to be guilty will receive a lifetime ban. At this time however we should point out that our findings are inconclusive and would ask that comment is reserved until the facts are established.”

Meanwhile, police have confirmed that a Chelsea fan was ejected from the ground and arrested for abusing Spurs’ South Korean star Son Heung-min.

Son was sent off during the game for aiming an upwards kick at Rudiger while grounded.